Top 2010 Trends in Search

The big question for the year to come is how will real time search affect the internet? Our Search Marketing team looks at this and other trends for 2010.

We predict that Google and Bing will keep on copying each other in order to capitalize on the search advertising market

Advanced personalization will lead to your own personal search results for most people rendering ranking checks useless

Search will become a social experience

Site quality focus - Brands will concentrate more on ensuring that their websites match their brand quality and online images will be more closely managed.

Real time search will go prime time for everyone, not just the search geeks and early adopters.

Mobile search will increase as the use of handhelds and Smartphones increase. Advertising opportunities will also increase.

Trends in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Local Search (Local SEO) will be huge and companies will have to make sure that they can be found in their specific demographic location. Local listings on maps and business advert listings is a must.

SEO is becoming ever-present and in 2010 those who don’t will fail to compete

More SEO experts will return underground again in spite of ubiquitous SEO due to wide spread prejudice of the ignorant against the trade

Flash makes a comeback with several tricks, authoring tools and server side scripting workarounds that means Flash-built websites no longer serve up a single, impenetrable page. They offer deep, searchable, indexable sites that will allow intense, detailed traffic and behavioral analytics and search engine optimization.

Black hat continues to die and great content drives a thirst for education. Internet marketing will finally transition from “smoke and mirrors” activities, as the thirst for web-based knowledge knows no bounds. Increasingly smart search engine algorithms accelerate the demise of junk websites and pages, as good content is at a premium.

We don’t need to fuss over keyword-based rankings. We need to build upon and improve the search referral traffic we obtain, the conversions we achieve, and the breadth of our overall visibility.

The importance of Link Building, content creation and social media integration will continue to climb.

Trends in Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

There will be improvement to our online marketing offerings for small businesses.

Paid search costs will rise with increasing competition – forcing people to market more niche.

Google is “exploring new approaches that have no keywords at all” in an effort to “get better at connecting users with advertisers“.

Google’s also working hard towards cracking the cost per acquisition model. Understanding that marketing is primarily about delivering sales – they understand that businesses need conversions – not just traffic.